Land of the Destined

Chapter 9 - Loss

A few days later, Micah was awake early and was roaming around the cottage. He usually slept in, but today he ended up waking up before everyone else. It had been a peaceful few days, especially after he had gotten their stepfather to leave.

He made himself some breakfast and sat down at the table. He had managed to make a decently good breakfast. If only I could share this with William, he thought to himself with a sigh, and he toyed with the emerald ring on his finger.

Micah began to eat his meal when he heard a sudden and rapid knock at the door.

"I was just about to eat, what is this about?" Micah grumbled and went up to the door and was surprised to see two palace officials at the door.

"Are you Micah Cohen?" the men asked, and Micah nodded.

"Please take a seat, we need to speak to you," the two men said, and Micah only gave them a confused glance.

"Isn't it too early for you to be here?" Micah asked, and the two men exchanged a glance.

"It is an urgent matter," one of the men said, and Micah sighed, and he let the two men in before taking a seat at the table.

"So what is it?" Micah asked, and the other two men exchanged nervous glances before speaking.

"It is about the troops."

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Elizah awoke to the sound of someone sobbing loudly. She immediately leapt out of bed and headed out to the kitchen to find Micah sobbing and Roxanne holding him with tears in her own eyes. She looked over to see two palace officials standing there with sombre expressions.

"Please tell me it isn't true," Micah was begging between sobs.

"We're sorry for your loss. We will return in a few days after you have gotten time to think," the palace officials said as they left the cottage and closed the door behind them.

Elizah slowly managed to garner enough strength to find out what was happening, so she walked up to Micah and Roxanne.

"Mama, what happened?" Elizah asked softly, and Roxanne looked up at her.

"The captain of the squad that Micah was in is no more. He was found dead yesterday," Roxanne said, and Elizah's eyes widened. But this still didn't explain why Micah was so emotional.

"He wasn't just the captain," Micah said softly between sobs, and Elizah looked down at him, "We made a promise, he broke it. I promised we would live together after all of this. He promised me he would be fine."

"What promise?" Elizah asked gently. She knew that Micah had all the reason to be upset, but he seemed far more upset than she would have expected.

"I--," Micah began to choke on the words, and tears rolled down his cheeks faster, "I loved him. We promised to get married, and now he's gone. He left me alone."

Micah began to cry even more, and Elizah could feel the tears in her eyes. It hurt her to see her brother so heartbroken. She threw her hands around Micah and embraced him to help him calm down slightly. Micah hiccuped and still sobbed, but Elizah held him tightly because she didn't know what else to do.

"You may want to pay a visit to their house," Roxanne said after a while. Micah had cried till no more tears could come, but his heart hurt more than anything.

"Mama, maybe tomorrow? Let him rest a while today," Elizah interrupted, but Micah shook his head.

"I will go today itself. If I go tomorrow, I will probably never get a chance to see him again. I'm going to get dressed now," Micah's voice was rough from all the crying and still in so much pain.